Speaker 1: 0:30

My name is Debbie Wicker and I'm with the Wicker Homes Group Gosh. I've been in the business over three decades now and I serve my clients personally. I think it's a big mistake that so many teams get so large that you may meet the team leader once, if you're lucky, and then you are handed off to other team members who don't have the experience that the team leader has. I handle all of my clients personally, 100%, because I'm the one who has the 30 plus years of experience and I'm the one who's actually a broker on the team as well. So, yeah, I really love you, know, making sure that I help guide my clients through. You know the process from start to finish.

Speaker 2: 1:18

How did you get into real estate?

Speaker 1: 1:21

Oh boy, what a great question. That is a really good question. I started thinking about the business quite a long time ago. You know, I stumbled into a little seminar one night and thought, gosh, this sounds really interesting. It's something I might want to do in the future, because my husband was in grad school at the time and he needed me to help get him through school few years at the time although I grew up in Arlington, so I'm a local gal and at the end of his grad school actually it was at the end of his grad school that we went out to the Midwest and so I took this little seminar and I thought, gosh, this sounds kind of interesting, but it wasn't the right time to be on a commissioned income basis.

Speaker 1: 2:11

So we moved back to the East Coast, back here to Northern Virginia, and his company happened to say to my husband hey, I know you guys are in town, for I think we were in town for three or four days for a house hunting trip and they said do you have a good realtor? Do you need someone that you need some help with? And Tad said sure, that'd be great. We don't know anyone. You know any real estate agents in the area. So he hooked us up with Betty and Betty did a lousy job and we got to the end of the whole process. We felt fairly used and abused emotionally more than anything. Betty was very good hearted but she did not instill confidence in the process and she did not educate us in the process.

Speaker 1: 2:52

This was 1987. And there was no Google, there was no internet at the time. If you wanted to learn about real estate and how to buy a house, you had to talk to friends and family. Hopefully they'd been through it recently and if not, you got to go to the library. There really was or a good realtor, and our realtor was not very. She didn't instill confidence and she didn't have a very. She didn't know how to educate us very well. So we got to the end of the whole process.

Speaker 1: 3:26

We got to the settlement table and a big issue at the time was agency. Who does your realtor work with? Who does your realtor work for? And we did not realize until closing day on the house that Betty was actually working for the sellers, because at the time all realtors worked for the sellers, because the sellers were paying both sides of the brokerage fee and so, as a result, sellers would say agent who's working with the buyers. I want you to work to get my best interest, keep my best interest in heart and get my best price on the house, because I'm paying you. And it was not until settlement that we realized that that was the case.

Speaker 1: 4:07

And I remember vividly turning to my husband and thinking what have we said in front of Betty that we shouldn't have said? I mean, if you all are wearing green jerseys and we're wearing red jerseys, that's fine, but just tell me who's wearing what colors, you know. So I had turned to my husband we actually got wind of that before closing and I turned to him and I said I can do a better job of selling someone a home than that. And if you know my husband, tad, you would have known that he said next, put your money where your mouth is, don't just say it, do it. And I said, okay, I will.

Speaker 1: 4:35

So we took two cars to settlement in May of 1987. And as soon as we were done signing paperwork, he went to go meet the movers and I went to go sign up for my first class in real estate, writing out my little check Back in the day. There was no Venmo, there was no online way to pay for it and started my real estate journey. I had my license two months later and never looked back. Wow.

Speaker 1: 4:58

Yeah pretty cool. That is an amazing story, yeah, very fun, and it's been so engaging for 30 plus years now, because no two transactions are exactly alike. There's always something new to be learned, and I'm a huge education fan, so there's always something new to be learned, and if there's not something that there's something that's boring, then you know there's never anything boring. Just put it that way. That's one of the reasons why I've stayed in, one of the reasons, one of the many that I've stayed in it for so long.

Speaker 2: 5:29

Do you have any memorable stories of clients that you've helped, or like a crazy story?

Speaker 1: 5:36

Oh, I have my favorite crazy story on the planet, something that you cannot be prepared for, and this is another one of the reasons why real estate can be fun. Back in the day I had clients whose I will change their names so that we can protect the innocent, but I was. I think I was in the business maybe two or three years, and I met this client on one of my listings that I had in Arlington and she said that she and her fiance were looking to buy a home and I said great, I'm happy to help. So, long story short, we started the real estate journey. She had this lovely rescue dog I'll name him Rover. So Rover went with us everywhere we went and her fiance was not in town yet, so she was going to identify the house. So we drove all over Northern Virginia looking for the right property and Rover sat in my backseat and I kept thinking, oh my gosh, this poor dog he's in for he's going to be a road pizza here. And she said, nope, he is very well trained. She happened to be very involved in animal rescue missions et cetera, and so she promised me this dog was well behaved and, sure enough, every house we got out of the car. I told her I'm so sorry, but I can't let the dog in the houses, and she said that's not a problem, he's super well behaved. So he'd get out of the car and we'd go up to each house and right before we stopped, walked up the stoop. She'd say, rover, stay. And he'd sit there and stay. And we're in Arlington, we're in Annandale, we're in Falls Church and there's a pretty good dog, you know.

Speaker 1: 7:16

So, long story short, we identified her top three favorites and her fiancé was coming in town and so she said we actually have a friend who's a psychic and she is going to help us identify the right house, because she also kind of does home improvement on the side. I thought, okay, I'm not really sure what to say or do around a psychic, so we're just going to let her have at it. So we go to look at all three houses and their actual favorite house was not the one that the psychic picked. The psychic said, no, it's house number two. So, um, there you go, we, we, um, put an offer on house number two, and at the time the listing agent was out of town, so someone else was covering for her, and so we had to jump through the hoops with the home inspection etc. And so everything was going well that day. It was a beautiful June day, super hot outside, and right as we rolled up to do the home inspection, mom and the kids were leaving in the car to go to a birthday party. So they were gone for a couple of hours, which was perfect, you know, we could get our home inspection done and be gone hopefully.

Speaker 1: 8:18

So we go into the house, we're doing the home inspection, everything's going well. And the psychic turned to her friend and said you know what? I've got other things to do. The house looks great, I'll see you guys later. And she said great, bye-bye.

Speaker 1: 8:31

So psychic leaves the house. Within 30 seconds she's knocking on the door again and she said I think you have a problem out here. And I said what's the problem? And she said there's a dead rabbit in the front yard. Do you know if the owners have a rabbit? I said I don't know. And of course Rover's sitting right there the whole time because he's outside. And I thought, oh my gosh, I have no idea.

Speaker 1: 8:55

And while I'm finishing up my conversation with her, my client comes running around the corner from the bedroom level of the house screaming at the dog Rover, you murderer, rover, you murderer. I can't believe you did this. And I'm like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's a model citizen. He's shown nothing but respect everywhere we've gone. I really don't know. I had to get her calmed down. So I said I'll have to pursue this. I don't believe that the owners own a rabbit. But let's calm down here and go ahead and finish the home inspection. I got her to calm down. She said I just don't know if I can keep you. I can't believe you murder her. She just kept on going.

Speaker 1: 9:29

So, long story short, we finish up inside, we get to the outside and there's an empty rabbit hutch in the backyard and I'm like oh no, oh dear, what am I going to do? And Fluffy is dead in the front yard. And then the next thought in my brain is oh dear, mom and the kids just rolled out of the driveway and they're due home any minute now. So I am running outside in the hot June sun. I rented the garage, I grabbed a bag and a shovel and I'm shoveling Fluffy in the bag and I'm putting Fluffy in the garage in a trash can and I'm like what am I going to do? What am I. What do I do here? There's not enough time to go to the pet store and find another Fluffy that looks exactly alike. So we got the whole home inspection wrapped up. Everybody out the door and I'm still. My brain is just twirling. What can I do here?

Speaker 1: 10:14

A listing agent shows up and she had been on vacation when we went under contract. So Joan says to me so how'd everything go? I said it's nice to meet you. Everything went well with the home inspection, but we do have a problem. And she said what's that? And I said do you know if the owners have a rabbit? And she said I don't know, but I'll check. So she picked up the phone and she called the husband and she said hey, tom, it's Joan. Yeah, everything went well with the home inspection. Do you guys own a rabbit by chance?

Speaker 1: 10:45

She covers the receiver it's a landline, it's old-fashioned days. Covers the receiver and she goes was it small? And I said yeah. And she goes back on the phone and she goes yes, yes, oh, hold on. She covers the receiver again. She goes was it white? And I said yes, it was. She goes back on the phone and she has to deliver the bad news. I felt so bad and it ended up. Long story short, it was fine. Dad was done with the rabbit. Mom was a little upset but dad was done with the rabbit and the house sale went through and the folks still lived in that house to this day.

Speaker 2: 11:20

And now the most important question is was it Rover?

Speaker 1: 11:23

It was.

Speaker 2: 11:24

It was.

Speaker 1: 11:25

Rover. Apparently, after everything was over, my client told me that he had a bad habit of grabbing small animals by the scruff of the neck and breaking them, breaking their spine, and she thought she had broken him of that habit.

Speaker 2: 11:39

It sounded like you're reminding a little bit of history there. Yeah, just a little bit of history would have helped.

Speaker 1: 11:44

And you know, unfortunately one of the kids left the rabbit hutch open, you know, and when I went back to my office to tell my managing broker about it, he said hold on, did anything regarding the home inspection have to do with that rabbit hutch being open? I said no, no, by the time we got there it was already done. Yeah, so yes, wonderfully unusual stories happen in real estate estate because it's all about people.

Speaker 2: 12:08

And it's how did you handle it right? Yeah, and how you handle it. You had Fluffy in a bag out of sight and I'm just like what do you do now?

Speaker 1: 12:17

Covering up dead bodies, you know yeah exactly, and then having to deliver the bad news.

Speaker 2: 12:24

That is a horribly funny story that you now are able to tell.

Speaker 1: 12:29

No question, I don't think I'm ever gonna top that one.

Speaker 2: 12:33

Okay, in terms of like growing up, did you ever see yourself as a real estate agent?

Speaker 1: 12:36

You know, I did in high school. I did in high school and actually it was in college and I had a. I had a one of my second favorite job not job, my career is real estate. It's not a job, but my second favorite job. Growing up I was a narrator on the tourmobile buses downtown, the tour buses when they used to have tourmobile, and my dad worked in Roslyn so he would take me down to one of the metro stops to drop me off on his way to work and on my way to summer job. And we got on the topic of real estate and he said, debbie, you ought to think about being a real estate agent. He said easiest job on the planet. He said you find a buyer, you find the right house, you match them up, you're done, you know. And I was like, oh, that sounds kind of interesting, you know, to my 18 year old brain. So yeah, he did plant the seed a long ago and far away. Yeah, very fun. Finally came to pass.

Speaker 2: 13:28

When it comes to like looking into, like the future of real estate what are your? Thoughts around that.

Speaker 1: 13:34

Oh, great question. Real estate is always changing. It's always on the move. There's always something new to be learned. There's always something on the on the horizon. In my career, I've been through all kinds of different issues. We've been through FRT roofing problems, which is a type of material that was a sub-roofing material which was causing roofs across the nation to fail earlier than they were supposed to. I've been through radon issues. We've been through mold issues. All kinds of different environmental issues in particular can come up, but what I've learned over the years is you educate yourself. Educate yourself so you can educate your clients, so you can help them make the best decision for them that they can, and also a lot of it is trying to help them take the emotion out of a decision and give them the facts and help them understand what the facts are and how that could possibly impact the home that they're thinking of purchasing.

Speaker 2: 14:36

Yeah, when it comes to like if you're talking to a seller or a buyer, is there one that you specialize in or do you work with both parties?

Speaker 1: 14:44

I pretty much specialize in sellers and helping folks sell their home. I have a terrific agent on my team, ken Arthur, and he actually works with both buyers and sellers. But he works with most of my buyers unless it's a family member or a good friend or a friend of the family. As a matter of fact, I'm going this afternoon to meet wonderful first-time buyers who are children of a really good family friend. So it's a joy and a privilege to be able to work with the kids of wonderful former clients who become friends over the years. What does your process look like for those sellers? For those sellers, I love it when first meeting is, you know, introducing them to myself and my background and asking you know why they chose to interview with me, helping them understand the different people on our team. That will help they never lose me in the transaction. So, for instance, when they're selling their house, I have a wonderful transaction manager, alison Adamson, and she joins me as soon as we go under contract. But before Alison I have a wonderful executive assistant, brenda Ulrich, and Brenda helps me get the property on the market. And again, my clients never lose me because I'm the one with 30 plus years of experience. So as we embark on marketing their home for sale.

Speaker 1: 16:10

We're huge on communication. Communication is crucial just to make sure that my clients know every step of the way and what's coming at them next. That's always a big, important box of mind to check along the way Once we go under contract. I always remind my clients that, hey, we are saying goodbye to Brenda because she helps us up to the point that we go under contract and Allison comes on board once we're under contract to make sure that everything all those additional boxes, get checked along the way. And I always tell my clients that Allison keeps the trains running on time.

Speaker 1: 16:45

So it's not unusual for me to get a ping from Allison at Sunday evening to say remember, your home inspection contingency on Maple Avenue is ending tomorrow at 9pm. Don't forget to get those loose ends wrapped up. Make sure that we get our homeowner's documents and our condo documents ordered in a timely manner. She makes sure that the contract hasn't missed any T-crossings or I-dottings. You know, once in a blue moon you'll have a as you exchange the contract back and forth between the selling agent and the listing agent. Somebody misses a check mark in a checkbox and so Allison always scours the contract paperwork to make sure everything is decent and in order, and she puts together listing agent, buyers, agents, brings together the buyers and the sellers, the mortgage lender, if there's a mortgage lender involved, and, of course, the settlement company or settlement companies, if we're dealing with more than one company at a time.

Speaker 2: 17:41

Yeah, sounds like a couple things. Number one is you very much value your team. Much, very much so, and you see what they bring to the table, absolutely. Number two is that communication is very important to you ever since, probably from the beginning of time, but especially after you had your experience.

Speaker 1: 17:57

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 17:58

Your agent. And then number three you're very good at making sure that your clients know where they're supposed to be at all times, and you've got the right team in place to help ensure that that happens 100%.

Speaker 1: 18:15

Actually, I attended a real estate again. I'm big on education so I attend a lot of real estate classes and real estate seminars. And I was at a conference one time and the gentleman who was on stage and communicating to his group of realtors was communicating on that very topic of keeping your clients aware of what's coming next. And he had a really interesting life experience.

Speaker 1: 18:42

He and his wife had gone someplace wonderful on vacation and they went to this wonderful spa for the day and he said it was very unnerving because he didn't know what was coming at him next. And he said they didn't give him sort of the lay of the land ahead of time. They basically put him in a dressing room and said take off all your clothes and we're going to take you over here. And they were going to take you over there but they didn't tell him what was coming next. And he said it's so important to make sure your clients know what's coming at them next so that they can be prepared to make good decisions, and then, when they're in the process of making decisions, how you can help guide them with any of your expertise and your knowledge so that they can make the best decision for them that they can.

Speaker 2: 19:26

That's exactly why I don't know if you saw it when you came in for this podcast we literally have a video that says first this happens then this happens.

Speaker 1: 19:34

I love that video. That is exactly what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2: 19:37

People just want to know what's going to happen next yeah what's coming at me next. What type of advice would you give a new agent who's just getting into the real estate world today?

Speaker 1: 19:46

Great question. I love new agents. I love new agents. Be a professional. So being a professional means get as much education as you possibly can, and they'll have a big decision to make Are you going to be a solo agent or are you going to be on a team?

Speaker 1: 20:02

If you are choosing to be a solo agent, make sure that the broker you hang your license with has a seasoned agent who's in a mentor program. I would highly encourage that to belong to a mentor program where you are counseled one-on-one with a seasoned veteran who's been in the business for a while. When I got in the business in the late 80s, literally my training was and I loved my manager. He was one of my favorite managing brokers ever Wally Adamson, classic in the business and his training was you got to get people in your car, deb, and you got to drive them around and I was like okay, okay, I'll get people in my car and I'll drive them around. That was the training we had back in 1987, 88, 89.

Speaker 1: 20:50

What the path is towards developing yourself as as a professional and developing your and helping guide your clients along the way.

Speaker 1: 21:14

If you choose not to be a solo agent but you choose to go on a team, make sure there's someone on that team that will be your mentor, that will guide you through the process and make sure that you are the best professional that you can possibly be for your clients.

Speaker 1: 21:27

So when issues come up because it's not if it's a when issues will come up and you need to know how to guide them properly. You know dirty little secret in real estate, from the listing agent's perspective, is one of the first things we look for is when a contract is sent to us on behalf of our clients, who's the agent? The community, the local community of experienced professionals is relatively small and we know each other. Your reputation precedes you. So I'm big on reputation. I'm big on working well with my clients and with the agent across the table, because there's a chance I might see them again at some point, or there's a chance that they might see me again at some point, and my reputation is super important to me and it's something that every agent should guard very carefully, because it does make a difference in this industry, no question.

Speaker 2: 22:23

I agree with that and I would add on to it. Every professional, whether every industry, across the board.

Speaker 1: 22:27

Your reputation is what you've got If you are going to be a garbage collector, be the best garbage collector you possibly can. If you're going to be an attorney, be the best attorney you possibly can. It makes a difference. If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. So find what you love to do.

Speaker 2: 22:46

You might have answered my question preemptively. Here, though my last question I said, by the way, I love that you tell stories. Oh, thanks, you communicate in storytelling and that makes it so easy for somebody to. I love that Listen and hear and observe what you have to say.

Speaker 1: 22:58

I do that a lot with my clients too, and it gives you a light bulb. You know you go okay, got it yeah.

Speaker 2: 23:02

Yes, yes, what is like a piece of advice that you kind of live your life by or you find yourself saying again and again, and again.

Speaker 1: 23:11

Well, that's a big part of it is find what you love to do and you'll never work a day in your life and always do the thing that's the right thing by your clients. One tiny story along those lines A few years ago I had a client who was introduced to me and needed to buy a house. The house they chose was actually a foreclosure property and the listing agent will remain nameless to protect the innocent or the not so innocent. But I knew this agent. I took one look and I said, oh dear, this agent has a reputation for not communicating well, just to shuffling everything off in the laps of his team and moving on to list the next property. So as soon as we were under contract, I reached out to him and I left yet one of many messages I left for him along the way and said hey, just make sure you know we need to get our HOA docs. We're still looking for HOA docs. We did our home inspection, we negotiated everything. It was all done. But everything was done with him through voicemails and emails and you were lucky if you got an answer within a day or two. So long story short.

Speaker 1: 24:20

I think it was about 48 hours before we were ready to close, I still didn't have HOA docs, which meant we could actually push settlement a little bit longer, because 72 hours was our deadline for my buyers to have HOA docs in their hands. The night before, two days before closing, my buyers came to me terrified because the husband had lost his job and I said don't worry, guys, we got an instant out. You're going to get your earnest money deposit back because we don't have HOA docs yet and you're allowed 72 hours with those docs in hand. So, long story short, they were super relieved I wasn't getting paid but I wasn't forcing them to buy a house for which they were terrified about, and the husband had lost his job. So I picked up the phone. I had a lot of fun, his job, so I picked up the phone. I had a lot of fun with this one. I picked up the phone and I called and I said hey, it's Debbie again, just want to let you know. And by this point it was the next day, because they'd come to me the night before and I said just want to let you know we're going to be signing a release to get out of the transaction.

Speaker 1: 25:21

My buyers have decided not to move forward on the purchase of the house, don't you know? He called me 10 minutes later and said Debbie, what's going on? I said I know. He said why are they backing out? I said you know, they got the HOA docs last night and they realized they can't paint the front door purple with yellow polka dots. And he paused for a minute and he said what? Oh, I get it. I said yes, they're backing out of the offer because they can have a nice day. It was none of his business that my buyer had lost his job and I want to teach him a lesson, so I think I did so. Always do right by your client and and and I'm a big believer in karma it will always come back to you.

Speaker 2: 26:03

I love that. What a beautiful story. They were like so happy.

Speaker 1: 26:07

Oh my gosh, my buyers were just like they were over the moon. Yeah, it worked out really well for everybody.

Speaker 2: 26:13

Thank you so much for being on the podcast. You were amazing.

Speaker 1: 26:16

I love your stories and honored to have met you. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure, a true pleasure.